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WrestleMania 2000
WrestleMania 2000 (chronologically known as WrestleMania XVI) was the sixteenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on April 2, 2000 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California. This WrestleMania has the distinction of the only WrestleMania not to feature at least one standard one-on-one wrestling match. The main event was a four-way elimination match for the WWF Championship involving reigning champion Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley, and The Big Show, which Triple H won after last eliminating The Rock. Main matches on the undercard included a triangle ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship involving Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz, and The Dudley Boyz, and a two-fall triple threat match for the WWF Intercontinental and European Championships involving Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and Chris Benoit. Background The main feud heading into WrestleMania was between Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley, and The Big Show, with the four feuding over the WWF Championship. At the Royal Rumble two months prior, The Rock won the Royal Rumble match to become the number one contender to the WWF Championship at WrestleMania by last eliminating The Big Show, and Triple H defeated Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) in a Street fight to retain the WWF Championship. The proceeding month at No Way Out, The Big Show defeated The Rock to gain entry into the WWF Championship match at WrestleMania. Also at the event, Triple H defeated Foley in a Hell in a Cell match to retain the WWF Championship. Per the pre-match stipulation, Foley had to retire from professional wrestling. On the March 13 edition of Raw is War, The Rock managed to win back his title shot by defeating The Big Show with help from a returning Vince McMahon, thus making the WWF Championship match a Triple Threat match. Then, the following week, after Triple H retained his title against both The Rock and The Big Show, Linda McMahon came out announced that he would be defending his belt in a Fatal Four-Way match against not only The Rock and The Big Show, but also Mick Foley. The second main feud heading into the event was between Edge and Christian versus The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) versus The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) for the World Tag Team Championship in a Triangle Ladder match. On the January 17 edition of Raw, Jeff Hardy was scheduled to face Bubba Ray Dudley in a match. The match saw Jeff pinning Bubba Ray after delivering a Swanton Bomb. After the match, the Dudley's attacked the Hardy Boyz, in which they powerbombed Matt on top of a table. On the January 20 edition of SmackDown!, Matt was placed in a match again D-Von Dudley. The win was given to Matt, after a disqualification took place. Jeff and Bubba Ray made their way to the ring, in which both teams began brawling against one another. Bubba Ray prepared to powerbomb Matt into a table, that was set up by the Dudley's. Bubba Ray, however, was hit by Jeff with a chair, causing him to fall onto the tables. The Hardy's then set up a table of their own and put D-Von on it, and Matt proceeded to perform a legdrop on D-Von through the table. At the Royal Rumble, the Hardy's defeated the Dudley's in a tag team tables match. The following night after the Royal Rumble, the Dudley's showed respect towards the Hardy's in which they would help them defeat the New Age Outlaws for the World Tag Team Championship. In return, the Hardy's would have to grant the Dudley's a title shot at the Tag Team Championship. During the tag title match, the Dudley's stopped the three count, after the Hardy's had the match in their favor and allowing the Outlaw's to retain the titles. After the match, the Dudley's then went onto perform the 3-D on them. In months leading to the event, Hardcore Champion Crash Holly had been involved in several matches which took place at increasingly unusual places, a situation that the champion had brought on himself. On February 24, 2000, Crash defeated Test for the Hardcore Championship on SmackDown! with help from his cousin Hardcore Holly and was so excited to be champion that he declared that as long as a referee was present, he would defend the title anytime at any place — a rule that was referred to as the "24/7" rule. Crash's decision backfired on him in a big way, as his title defenses often took place in odd places like a laundromat, an amusement park, and Newark Liberty International Airport to name a few as wrestlers were quick to strike to take the gold. Crash decided that he was tired of being on guard all the time and offered a shot to any wrestler for WrestleMania, provided that the 24/7 rule would be suspended until afterward. Several wrestlers took Crash up on his offer and the match became a battle royal. The third main feud heading into the event was between D-Generation X (X-Pac and Road Dogg) against Kane and Rikishi in a tag team match. The rivalry between Kane and X-Pac started last year when X-Pac turned on Kane by dumping him as a partner and rejoined DX. The two fought at Survivor Series which Kane won by disqualification when Triple H interfered. The two had another match at Armageddon in a steel cage match which Kane won by pinfall after performing the Tombstone Piledriver. Later, Tori who was Kane's storyline girlfriend turned on him by kissing X-Pac and aligned herself with him and DX. This caused Kane to be institutionalized but two weeks later he returned along with Paul Bearer and continued his rivalry with X-Pac. At No Way Out, the two had a no holds barred match which X Pac won when he kicked the steel steps into Kane's face but not before Kane Tombstoned Tori once again. In recent weeks, Kane and X-Pac continued their rivalry but it also involved DX and Too Cool. The leader of Too Cool, Rikishi was announced to team up with Kane against DX at WrestleMania. The two had a match on March 20, which ended in a no contest when they were attacked by Road Dogg and X-Pac. The two teams continued their rivalry leading up to the match at the event. Event Before the show, Lilian Garcia sang a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner". The first match that aired was a tag team match between the team of The Godfather and D'Lo Brown (who were accompanied to the ring by rapper Ice-T, who also sang their entrance music) against the team of The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan. The Godfather and Brown gained the early advantage over Buchanan and Bossman, as they were able to execute a leg drop and a splash combination. Buchanan and Bossman, yet, retaliated after Bossman delivered a Sidewalk slam and Buchanan delivered a Leg drop from the top turnbuckle into a pinfall and winning the match. The second match was a hardcore battle royal for the WWE Hardcore Championship involving defending champion Crash Holly. The rules of the match were that; the match would go on for fifteen minutes, the championship could exchange hands an unlimited amount of times during the time limit, and the final wrestler with the Hardcore Championship would win the match and remain the Hardcore Champion. The first championship exchange occurred after Tazz pinned Crash, which proceeded with Viscera pinning Tazz. The third championship exchange occurred after Funaki pinned Viscera, however, Funaki was then pinned by Rodney. The fifth championship exchange occurred after Joey Abs pinned Rodney, which proceeded with Abs being pinned by Thrasher. The seventh title exchange occurred after Pete Gas pinned Thrasher, though, Gas was then pinned by Tazz. The ninth title exchange occurred after Crash pinned Tazz, which proceeded with the final championship exchange, as Hardcore Holly pinned Crash, thus, Hardcore Holly won the Hardcore Championship. The next match was a tag team match between the team of Al Snow and Steve Blackman against the team of T & A (Test and Albert). Back and forth action between the two teams towards the end of the match, where Albert delivered a Baldo Bomb on Snow, while Test delivered an Elbow drop from the top rope onto Blackman into a pinfall for the win. The fourth match was a WWF Tag Team Championship triangle ladder match involving The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, and champions The Dudley Boyz. Edge and Christian first gained the advantage after Edge climbed the top rope and speared Jeff, who was climbing a ladder. Edge and Christian were then given consecutive 3-D's by The Dudley Boyz. The Dudley Boyz then brought tables into the ring and onto ringside, where D-Von splashed Jeff through a table in the ring, while Bubba powerbombed Matt through another at ringside. The Hardy Boyz would then retaliate after Jeff delivered a Swanton bomb off a ladder onto Bubba, through a table. As Jeff did so, Matt climbed a ladder, along with Edge and Christian, who pushed Matt off the ladder through a table. The situation allowed Edge and Christian to reach and grab the championship belts that were hung from the rafters, thus gaining their first ever the Tag Team Championship. The fifth match was a Catfight between The Kat and Terri with special guest referee, Val Venis; the winner of the match was determined by the diva who threw their opponent out onto ringside. The Kat threw Terri out onto ringside; Venis was however distracted by Mae Young, who was at ringside managing The Kat, and was unable to see the action. Terri was again thrown onto ringside by The Kat, though, the action was not seen by Venis as he was yet again distracted by Young. In retaliation, The Fabulous Moolah, who was at ringside managing Terri, pulled The Kat out of the ring, which was seen by Venis, thus Terri won the match. Whilst celebrating, Mae Young attacked Terri and The Fabulous Moolah before giving Moolah the bronco buster whilst Kat stripped Terri of her clothing. Next was an Intergender Tag-Team match between the team of Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) and Chyna against the team of The Radicalz (Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero). Both teams fought back and forth towards the end of the match, where Chyna was tagged into the match and delivered a press slam, powerbomb, and a sleeper slam and pinned Guerrero for the win. The seventh match was a two-fall triple threat match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship and WWF European Championship, involving Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho. The first fall would be for the Intercontinental Championship, while the second fall was for the European Championship. In the beginning of the first fall, all three men exchanged pin attempts towards midway into the match where Benoit broke up a Chicken wing submission by Angle onto Jericho. The situation allowed Benoit to climb to the top turnbuckle and delivered a Diving headbutt on Jericho into a pinfall to win the Intercontinental Championship. During the second fall, Jericho and Benoit delivered a double powerbomb onto Angle, which proceeded into Benoit delivering three German suplexes onto Jericho. Afterwards, Benoit attempted to deliver another diving headbutt onto Angle, however, Angle moved out of the way, resulting in Benoit hitting the ringmat. This situation allowed Jericho to deliver a Lionsault into a pinfall to win the European Championship. The final match on the undercard was the tag team encounter between Kane and Rikishi against D-Generation X (X-Pac and Road Dogg). Shortly into the match Rikishi delivered a Diamond cutter onto X-Pac, which proceeded into Kane delivering a Tombstone piledriver into a pinfall for the win. The main event was a WWF Championship four-way elimination match involving The Big Show (with Shane McMahon), Mick Foley (with Linda McMahon), The Rock (with Vince McMahon), and the defending champion, Triple H (with Stephanie McMahon). In the beginning of the match, Show press slammed Triple H and Rock; however, all three competitors then attacked Show. The situation allowed The Rock to eliminate Show, after delivering a Rock Bottom into a pinfall. After the elimination, Foley delivered a double arm DDT on Triple H. Though, Triple H retaliated as he performed two consecutive Pedigrees, and hitting Foley with a steel chair into a pinfall, thus Foley was eliminated. After Foley was eliminated, The Rock and Triple H brawled in and out of the ring with neither superstar gaining the advantage over one another. Although, Triple H gained the advantage when Vince hit The Rock with a steel chair two consecutive times, thus turning Vince heel. The attack with the steel chair allowed Triple H to pin The Rock to retain the WWF Championship. After the match The Rock gave the Rock Bottom to Vince, Shane and Stephanie McMahon, before giving Stephanie a People's Elbow. Aftermath After the event, The Rock continued to feud with Triple H over the WWF Championship. The feud continued on the episode of Raw is War after WrestleMania, where The Rock pinned Triple H in a non-WWF Championship match. The following week on Raw is War, the feud intensified, where The Rock defeated The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan in a handicap steel cage match. After the match Triple H, Shane and Vince McMahon attacked The Rock, however, which caused him to lose a great amount of blood. Later that week on SmackDown!, it was announced that The Rock would face Triple H for the WWF Championship at Backlash. At Backlash, The Rock, with help from Stone Cold Steve Austin and Linda McMahon, defeated Triple H to win the WWF Championship. The next night on Raw, Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Jericho to win the European Championship after Chyna turned heel and betrayed Jericho. Jericho went on to feud with Chris Benoit over the Intercontinental Championship, which led to Benoit defeating Jericho at Backlash to retain the title. Guerrero and Chyna entered a feud with Essa Rios and Lita after Chyna left Lita to be attacked by The Dudley Boyz. At Backlash, Guerrero defeated Rios to retain the European Championship. Reception WrestleMania 2000 was met with unfavourable critical response. John Powell of Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section called the event "a flop"; he further noted that "It was supposed to be sports entertainment's greatest event of the year. It was supposed to the best the WWF has to offer. It wasn't." He went on to claim that, "WrestleMania 2000 from The Pond in Anaheim, California, will go down as one of the worst WrestleManias the World Wrestling Federation has produced in its 15-year history of broadcasting the flagship spectacle." He further cited, "The only one-on-one match being the ludicrous Cat fight between Terri and The Kat, the other congested WrestleMania bouts suffered from constant stalling of one form or another as wrestlers lay prone for extended periods of time or engaged in low-impact brawling on the outside of the ring so that the audience could direct their attention to the other participants. This approach left many WWF superstars looking foolish for selling holds longer than they needed to." He further cited "Ironically, the first-ever All-Day-Long pre-show recapping the history of WrestleMania for eight hours prior to the premiere wrestling event was better than the card itself." He gave the overall event a score of 3 out of 10 stars, which is a considerably lower score than the previous year's event which received a rating of 8 out of 10 stars. The main event between Triple H, Mick Foley, The Big Show and The Rock for the WWF Championship was rated 4 out of 10 stars, the Two-fall Triple Threat match for the WWF Intercontinental and European Championships between Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit along with the Triangle Ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship between The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian received the highest rating of 8 out of 10 stars and The Cat Fight between Terri and The Cat received the lowest rating of 0 out of 10 stars. Robert Leighty Jr of 411mania gave the event a score of 7.0 out of 10.0 and commented on how there were "some good matches on the undercard, and an ok Main Event make this a good WrestleMania. Results *The Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan defeated The Godfather and D'Lo Brown (9:05) *Hardcore Holly won a 15-minute Hardcore Battle Royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship featuring: Crash Holly ©, Tazz, Viscera, Joey Abs, Rodney, Pete Gas, Taka Michinoku, Funaki, Headbanger Thrasher, Headbanger Mosh, Faarooq and Bradshaw. (15:00) **Tazz pinned Crash with a capture suplex. (0:26) **Viscera pinned Tazz after a Powerslam. (1:00) **Funaki pinned Viscera with a flying shoulderblock from Bradshaw. (7:51) **Rodney pinned Funaki after throwing him into a backstage wall. (8:11) **Joey Abs pinned Rodney with a gutwrench suplex. (8:24) **Thrasher pinned Joey Abs after a clothesline. (8:46) **Pete Gas pinned Thrasher after a fire extinguisher shot. (9:29) **Tazz pinned Pete Gas with a T-bone suplex. (10:17) **Crash pinned Tazz after a cookie sheet shot. (14:20) **Hardcore won by pinning Crash last after hitting him with a candy jar to win the title. (14:59) **Everyone who got a pin was the champion up to the next pin; their title reigns are officially recognized by WWE in the title lineage history. *T & A (Test and Albert) (w/ Trish Stratus) defeated Head Cheese (Al Snow and Steve Blackman) (w/ Chester McCheeserton). (7:05) *Edge and Christian defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) © and The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff) in a Triangle Ladder match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. (22:29) *Terri Runnels (w/ The Fabulous Moolah) defeated The Kat (w/ Mae Young) (w/ Val Venis as Special Guest Referee) in a Catfight. (2:25) *Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty Too Hotty) and Chyna defeated The Radicalz (Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko) (9:38) *Two-Fall Triple Threat Match for the WWF Intercontinental and WWF European Championships: Kurt Angle © vs. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit (13:35) **Benoit pinned Jericho after a diving headbutt in the first fall to win the Intercontinental Championship. (7:54) **Jericho pinned Benoit with a Lionsault in the second fall to win the European Championship. (13:35) *Rikishi and Kane (w/ Paul Bearer) defeated D-Generation X (X-Pac and The Road Dogg) (w/ Tori). (4:16) *Triple H (w/ Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) defeated The Rock (w/Vince McMahon), Mick Foley (w/ Linda McMahon) and The Big Show (w/ Shane McMahon) in a Fatal Four Way Elimination Match to retain the WWF Championship. (36:28) **Rock pinned Big Show after a Rock Bottom. (4:41) **Triple H pinned Foley after a Pedigree. (19:41) **Triple H pinned Rock after a chair shot from Vince McMahon. (36:28) Other on-screen talent Notes *This was the only WrestleMania that didn't feature any one-on-one matches with normal rules. *WrestleMania 2000 featured a preshow entitled WrestleMania All Day Long, which went through the history all of the previous WrestleManias. It is the longest WrestleMania preshow in the company's history, lasting over 8 hours. *This WrestleMania's logo was the first to not make use of the classic font used in past WrestleManias (I-XV) and also the first and only WrestleMania logo to use the font Neo Sans. *This is the only WrestleMania to be generally referred to by year, rather than a number. *Celebrity guests in attendance for WrestleMania 2000 included Ice-T, Martin Short, Michael Clarke Duncan, Pete Rose, Dustin Diamond, French Stewart, and Opie and Anthony. DVD releases * WrestleMania 2000 (XVI) on DVD External links * The Official Website of WrestleMania 2000 (XVI) * WrestleMania 2000 on WWE Network * WrestleMania 2000 (XVI) at CAGEMATCH.net * WrestleMania 2000 (XVI) at Online World of Wrestling References *WrestleMania 2000 (XVI) Facts/Stats WrestleMania 16 WrestleMania 16 WrestleMania 16